Love and Forgiveness
by SnowLeopardDex
Summary: Tai Lung is back. He's ready to make up for his past deeds...and meets someone along the way. The road to reform is a long and hard one but its a path Tai Lung is willing to take...with the help of some friends of course. TaiLungxOC
1. Flawed Beliefs

_Disclaimers: Wanted to get this over with first. I do not own any of the Kung Fu Panda characters and bla bla bla._

This is my first fanfiction ever!!! Hooray! I was reading the other fanfics on this site and I thought that this would be really fun so I decided to try writing a fanfic and now I'm addicted. Tai Lung is my favorite character of all time so I wrote this! Please R&R and give criticism on what I could do better, what I did good, etc.

_Dex: And with that...it begins._

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Tai Lung regained consciousness in a pool of his own blood and groaned in agony. The pain was excruciating. Several gashes on his arms and chest stained his fur a dark crimson red. He also had a number of broken ribs and various other injuries from his fight with Po. His face contorted in pain as he struggled to stand up.

Looking around, he realized he was on the outskirts of the Valley of Peace. He heard cheering, music, and laughter off in the distance. The enticing aromas of baked goods, various dishes and delicious desserts filled the air. The inhabitants of the valley thought he was dead.

_This is good_ he thought. _No one will be in their homes. They will all be celebrating in the town plaza for a good several hours._

He staggered over to the nearest house and was about to open the flimsy wooden door when he realized that people might get suspicious if their furniture and floors suddenly turned red. But how could he clean his wounds if he could not get to water? He was not about to lick himself.

"Damn this is a pain."

After thinking for a moment, he tore off the lower parts of his dark indigo sweatpants seeing how they were already in tatters anyway. These were then torn into four pieces of fabric. He wound one around each wrist and around each ankle to soak up the blood dripping from his arms and legs. _Just because I'm muscular doesn't mean that I don't have any lights on upstairs…contrary to popular belief. _He made his way to the house's bathroom. The snow leopard filled the large tub he found there with warm water and undressed. He eased himself into the tub and began to gingerly clean his wounds and eventually fell deep into his thoughts.

_What am I going to do? I'd rather die than go back to prison… I suppose the only thing to do now is go back and beg for forgiveness. Damn it! I keep hoping there's a less obvious solution! The only emotion I've felt for years is anger! How the hell am I supposed to apologize?! Everything I ever believed was a lie!_

The angry snow leopard left the house walked towards the Jade Palace, ignoring the pain that was stabbed at him with every step.

As he got closer and closer to the plaza, he became more and more cautious, moving only through the shadows. When he finally reached the base of the gargantuan staircase, Tai Lung realized that there was a good chance that he would get spotted if he simply charged up the steps and if no one else saw him, the one of the five masters surely would. _I need a distraction if I'm going to get up to the Jade Palace._

Glancing upwards he saw a lantern dangling gently in the breeze on the opposite side of the plaza. _Perfect, _Tai Lung thought, _alright…here we go._ _Timing is everything. He began counting down the seconds. _

_Five. _Grabbing a knife from a nearby stand, he flipped backwards onto an adjacent rooftop hidden in the shadows pushing off of it with one paw while using the other to launch the knife towards the lantern.

_Four. _The lantern fell and burst into flames allowing him to begin his sprint up the first flight of stairs.

_Three._ Three quarters of the way.

_Two. _Top of the steps.

_One. _The fire was put out and everyone returned to their festivities but a certain quick-footed snow leopard was well on his way to the Hall of Heroes in the Jade Palace.

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_Something's wrong…_Tigress could feel it as she turned around to gaze up at the gargantuan staircase that led to the Jade Palace. Dismissing the thought, she decided to go back up to the Jade Palace and get some rest for training the next day. No doubt Master Shifu would have them resume training immediately.

"Where are you going Tigress?" Crane asked loudly so as to be heard over the music, the cheers, and the bragging Dragon Warrior.

"To rest," the tiger master replied shortly, already ascending the steps.

"We'll go with you," Crane said as he flew up the staircase with the other three masters close behind. "I think we've all heard enough bragging from Po tonight."

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Tai Lung looked at the reflection in the Sacred Water in the Hall of Heroes. In it, he saw the dragon scroll; the scroll that had cost him everything. He saw his own battered body and his tattered pants and he began to laugh (not an evil laugh, just one of those average, day-to-day, happy laughs). It hurt to laugh but at the same time it felt so damn good!

Unfortunately all good things come to an end. His laughter ended in violent coughing. A thin red mist seemed to cloud his vision. The snow leopard clutched at his stomach and groaned. _The effects of the Wuxi Finger Hold seem to finally be catching up to me. Grr…I was hoping I could apologize first. Ah well, at least I'll be able to die…in…m-my h…home._ He fell to his knees and was unconscious before he hit the floor.

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_Dex: This is NOT a one-shot. If it was, I'd be really sad. Anyway, I hope I wrote decently enough. The OC will be introduced in the next chapter. If you like the story, I'll try to get in the next chapter soon (depending on the amount of work I have to do for college applications) because I know how much I hate waiting... Anyways I hope you enjoy the story. And __btdubs* I love the stories about Tai Lung/Kung Fu Panda here._

_btdubs=bytheway  
I just have a fun way of saying it._


	2. Confusion and Execution

_Dex: Wow it's been a while. Anyway...yay for my first update! Disclaimer: I do not own the Kung fu Panda characters or the whatever else i may use that would be illegal without this discaimer. I do own my own characters._

_My first OC makes his appearance in the next chapter. For a while I thought I had written myself into a corner...but NO. This was kind of rushed but please R&R. I love reading comments (good and bad)._

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Tai Lung awoke. _Oh hooray. I'm not dead._ He noticed several things had changed since he passed out. First, he wasn't dead (always a good sign). Second, his bandages had been changed. Third, he wasn't in the Hall of Warriors anymore. He was in his old room. If he wasn't mistaken, his room was surrounded by five empty rooms which probably belonged to the furious five now. The last thing he noticed was that he wasn't tied down and there was nothing stopping him from walking out the screen door and doing whatever he pleased. He stood up rather easily and opened up his window. Breathing in deeply, he let the cold air rush down into his lungs. A gentle breeze ruffled through his fur. He hadn't been out for long as his acute hearing could still pick up festival music from down below.

"He's probably still unconscious." Tai Lung heard from outside his door. He silently crawled over to the screen and pressed his ear against it.

"I see. I'd like to talk to Po." That was Master Shifu's voice.

Loud squeaks and heavy thuds were heard as a large panting and gasping panda was approaching Master Shifu. _I can't imagine who that could be. _the snow leopard thought sarcastically.

"Dragon…ha…Warrior…hah..hup…here...hah…Master Shifu."

"Po. I want to know exactly what happened during your fight with Tai Lung two days ago."

"Why Master…hoo…is something wrong?"

"YES Po! I want to know why Tai Lung is still alive!" Master Shifu shouted angrily.

The snow leopard pulled his ear away from the door. _Did his father really want him dead? _He thought sadly. _No. He would have killed me earlier when he found out I was alive. It doesn't make sense for him to change my bandages and drag me to my old room to kill me. _Tai Lung pressed his ear against the door again.

"…was using the Wuxi finger hold on him. There was a really bright light and dust flew everywhere. Then I went to find you. We then went to have lunch and—"

"Yes, yes I know what we did. I was there, Po. I…want…to know…how it came to be that Tai Lung…was in the Jade Palace…ALIVE."

By the tone of his voice, Po could tell Master Shifu's patience was growing thinner. He decided to wrap things up.

"I guess I did the hold wrong or something and the wind from the blast only gave him some major cuts and sent him flying away. I made up the part about him dying because I thought no one would ever, you know, find out…and I don't know how he ended up in the Jade Palace since the blast sent him in the opposite direction."

"I…see. You'd better get some sleep Po. We have a trial to attend tomorrow. Believe it or not, we have another major problem to deal with right now."

"Yes Master." Was Po's only reply.

In the silence that followed, Tai Lung rolled over onto his mat. Several things were bothering him. _What was I suffering from if the panda performed the Wuxi finger hold wrong? There is a…bigger problem…than me? Is that even possible? That's good to hear but who could've done something even worse than what I did?_ Still deeply troubled, the snow leopard fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

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GONG!

"Good morning master." Six warriors were up, dressed and standing outside their respective rooms. Po was not one of them.

"Good morning students," came the master's reply.

Tai Lung was trying to hide his shock. None of the furious five seemed to be surprised that he was standing there. "Umm…excuse me but…what is—"

"Po doing? A very good question. PANDA! Get out here. I don't care if you're the Dragon Warrior, you still have to wake up with everyone else." A sleepy and dreary eyed panda walked slowly out from his room, yawning several times.

"Furious Five and Dragon Warrior. Head down to the town plaza first and help them prepare." When he was sure they were alone, Master Shifu began explaining to Tai Lung.

"The reason no one has asked why you are alive or why you are here is because your conscience spoke for you while you were unconscious. This is also when your mind is the most truthful. You apologized for you actions, promised to make amends, and vowed to turn your life around. As long as you uphold this promise, everyone will trust you. If you haven't forgotten, you were quite helpful in keeping the valley of peace peaceful before the effects of my mistake."

Tai Lung listened to every word his master said and with every word his spirits lifted higher and higher almost to the point where he was happy. _Thank God for sleep-talking._ "Thank you Master," Tai said quickly, "but if the villagers found out I was alive last night, why were they still celebrating?"

Master Shifu looked puzzled, but when he realized what his son meant, his face brightened immediately. "Oh...you think the villagers were celebrating your death, am I right?" The intrigued snow leopard nodded his head waiting eagerly for what his master was going to say. "No, my son. They are celebrating the coming of the empress. Tai Lung was about to speak when his father silenced him. "I know that no one likes the empress, but we must obey her every...whim if we want the valley to remain peaceful.

Master Shifu flashed a faint smile which quickly died away. "Come, my son. We must hurry. Our troubles are far from over. The Empress's messenger arrived late last night with very bad news. The Empress is on her way to the village to execute Tian Xu, the village's local weaponsmith and your childhooh best friend on false charges. We have figured out, that since there are no real charges on Tian Xu, there must be some alterior motiv for his execution. A later messenger from the Empress has confirmed our suspicions. She wants to eliminate our weaponsmith and all weapons he has created. By doing this, the village will be powerless...and will fall completely under her control. But most importantly, she will NOT execute one of our villagers! YAAAAA!"

Although he was laughing at his father's uncharacteristic warcry, Tai Lung had to admire his father's powerful resolve as he watched the red panda dash down the stairs. Tai took off after him. _How did I heal so quickly? _Off in the distance, Tai Lung could make out the outlines of the Empress's Guard traveling towards what he remembered to be his best friend's home. _Grr...It's just one thing after another._

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_If anything was unclear in the first chapter, I purposely wanted to clear it up in this chapter. Unfortunately it took me a really long time to think of ideas. If you like the story, I'll try not to keep you waiting so long for the next update._

_R&R please. Thank you for the advice and support to all who commented buy especially from Falconmage and LunaGoldsun.  
On a random note, the name Tian Xu is the name I received from the mandarin tools website which converts your name, birthdate, gender, and personality into your Chinese name._


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